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News Digest !
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War between states heats up with flag removal
ATLANTA — Retaliating in a tit-for-tat war between the states, a pair
of Georgia lawmakers climbed a ladder Tuesday and yanked down New
York’s flag from the state Capitol.
It was a stunt to get back at New York for removing Georgia’s flag
after Gov. George Pataki branded the Confederate emblem on the ban
ner as a “symbol of hatred” for all Americans.
“They started it,” said state Sen. Eric Johnson, who got a few cheers
from onlookers as he and fellow Republican state Sen. Joey Brush
marched New York’s flag out of the Capitol’s Hall of States.
But Secretary of State Lewis Massey was not amused. He promised
to have the flag back in place today. “I hope this puts an end to these
childish exercises,” he said.
The Georgia flag had hung about 100 feet from Pataki’s office in
the New York Capitol for some 20 years. A group of black lawmakers
complained to the governor late last week that they wanted the flag
removed.
New York Sen. David Paterson, a Manhattan Democrat who
prompted the Georgia flag’s removal, condemned the retaliatory move
as “quite insensitive.”
Death row dog spared
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) —
Prince, a little boy’s four-legged
friend, condemned to death after kill
ing a rooster, won a reprieve Tuesday
—and was ordered to get out of town.
“Thank you, everyone,” 5-year-old
Jeffrey Kristiansen said following the
city’s decision to lift his dog’s death
sentence.
Jeffrey’s mother, Margaret
Kristiansen, was ordered to find a new
home for the 314-year-old black La
brador mix, somewhere outside this
city of about 25,000. No deadline was
set.
Prince, whom Ms. Kristiansen
nicknamed “Houdini” for his ability
to escape from cages and leashes,
killed the rOOsfer in May. He was la
beled a vicious dog under a Ports
mouth city ordinance.
Vicious dogs are supposed to be
kept leashed or locked up, but Prince
got away twice, once by breaking out
of a cage and another time by bolting
when Jeffrey opened a door. That
«
A dog can’t be a dog
anymore. ”
Tim Record
Portsmouth resident
earned the dog a death sentence un
der the “three-strikes-and-out” ordi
nance. He’s been in a kennel ever
since.
Jeffrey said Prince got a bad rap.
“He’s not the one responsible — the
rooster's responsible,” he said last
week.
“A dog can’t be a dog anymore,”
resident Tim Record said Tuesday.
Ms. Kristiansen said she’ll inter
view prospective owners for Prince
and work out a visitation agreement.
I Studying kissing doesn’t help
EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Profes- I
sor Michael Christian is making !
the perfect kiss academic.
The Boston College professor is
an expert on kissing. He’s even
written two books on the subject.
Christian said there are about
25 different kinds of lip-locks, from
the lip-o-suction kiss to the upside
down kiss. At a speech at the Uni
versity of Southern Indiana, Chris
tian told students that most Ameri
cans kiss for less than a minute, but
the longest kiss on record lasted
more than 200 hours.
His interest turned academic
after a girlfriend complained that
he kissed with his eyes open. He
now knows he was just kissing the
wrong girl. One-third of the popu
lation likes to kiss ‘n’ peep.
But Christian admits being a
kissing expert hasn’t helped his
love life.
“Women’s expectations are too
high and they always say things
like, You’ve got to be kidding. You
wrote the book on the art of kiss
ing and this is the best you can
do?”’
• -^L,„
An artist’s name was misspelled in Monday’s Daily Nebraskan.
Carlos Frey, not Carlos Reyes, will exhibit his art Friday at Noyes Art
Gallery.
Serbian Parliament votes
to restore opposition wins
Next step for Zajedno
party is to free the
media from government
control.
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP)—
Serbia’s democratic opposition gained
its first major triumph over President
Slobodan Milosevic as parliament re
instated opposition victories today in
local elections.
But opposition leader Vuk
Draskovic said Milosevic could not be
trusted to fully implement the bill that,
after months of protests, recognized
the Nov. 17 election wins.
The parliament, where Milosevic’s
Socialists and their allies hold a ma
jority, voted 128-0 to pass the bill to
day. There were two abstentions.
The bill gave the three-party
Zajedno opposition alliance control of
Belgrade and 13 other cities in Serbia.
It closed one chapter in the
opposition’s struggle and opened an
other — the bid to drive Milosevic
from power in nationwide elections
scheduled later this year.
Milosevic is barred by Serbia’s
constitution from seeking his third
term, but the opposition fears
Milosevic may use legal maneuvers to
stay in power.
Although the parliament acted on
orders by Milosevic, the debate
dragged late into the evening. Of the
250 lawmakers, only 130 were
present. The opposition boycotted the
session, and the ultranationalist Radi
cal Party also skipped the vote.
Zajedno said its next step will be
to free the media from government
control and gain equal access to state
run television, Milosevic’s most pow
erful propaganda tool during his 10
years in power.
. Although the pro-democracy drive
has seen the arrival of independent
newspapers, the government has ham
pered their distribution outside
Belgrade. Two independent radio sta
tions can be heard only in Belgrade.
The opposition said its efforts will
be made harder by Milosevic’s appar
ent intention to install Radmila
Milentijevic as his information min
ister. *
Milentijevic, a U.S. citizen who
teaches history at the City University
of New York, has been a hard-line
Milosevic supporter who backed
Milosevic’s nationalist policies in the (
past.
The opposition also plans to press
for punishment of officials responsible
for the election fraud and for a police
crackdown on protesters Feb. 2-3 in
which more than 100 people were in
jured.
Ecuador picks interim president
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Congress
selected its own leader, Fabian
Alarcon, as Ecuador’s interim presi
dent Tuesday night.
It was the latest act in a week-long
political drama that forced the
country’s elected leader from office.
Alarcon was chosen by a vote of
57-2 to replace caretaker president
Rosalia Arteaga.
Arteaga resigned earlier Tuesday
after threatening fo remain in office.
Before resigning, she issued a decree
calling for a national referendum on
whether the country’s vice president
should succeed the president if the
position becomes vacant.
Arteaga was Ecuador’s vice presi
dent before Congress named her to the
presidency on Sunday.
“I will return to the presidency of
the republic only if that is the deter
mination of the referendum,” she said.
Meanwhile, Abdala Bucaram, disr
missed as president last week by Con
gress, left Ecuador Tuesday. Bucaram
has said publicly that a civilian dicta
torship has been imposed.
“I am President of the Republic. 1
never resigned and never will resign,’
Bucaram, dressed in jeans and a sports
shirt, told reporters and a small group
of onlookers after arriving at Panama
City airport Tuesday night.
Bucaram, who was dismissed foi
“mental incapacity,” said his trip
would include stopovers in other Latin
American countries. He denied he was
going into exile.
Amid a three-way struggle for the
presidency, Congress picked Arteaga
for the job Sunday under a military
negotiated agreement that put her in
power only until legislators elected the
interim leader. Alarcon, 49, will serve
as president until 1998, and must call
new elections.
Arteaga’s announcement Monday
that she would not immediately step
down infuriated some in Congress,
She changed her mind later Monday,
only to change it back Tuesday before
finally submitting.
Arteaga said the constitution
makes no provision for an interim
leader. She said there must be a con
stitutional amendment before Con
gress can elect a temporary replace
ment.
“I think they’re preparing a new
coup against the constitution,” she
said Tuesday, calling it “a dangerous
nrecedent.”
Arteaga also said the armed forces
would have no role in resolving the
political crisis, which began with Con
gress’ dismissal of Bucaram.
“The role of the armed forces is
internal and international security, but
not acting in politics,” she said.
The struggle for the presidency
raised fears of a military coup. While
that did not happen, the crisis served
to highlight the power and influence
of the armed forces in the fragile de
mocracy. Ecuador’s military — the
ultimate arbiter of power — had to
step in and negotiate a solution.
Palestinian women prisoners freed
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -
Israel freed 31 Palestinian women
prisoners Tuesday after the Supreme
Court rejected a final petition from a
group whose family members were
victims of Palestinian attacks.
The releases came after a year of
delays and wrangling and a long day
of waiting and confusion.
Two Palestinian officials — legis
lator Hisham Abdel-Razek and
Soufian Abu Zaida, head of the Israel
desk in the planning ministry —
greeted the women as they left the
prison in Tel Mond in central Israel.
In the West Bank town of
Ramallah, family and friends waited
anxiously to welcome the returning
prisoners. Yasser Arafat, who was in
Ramallah to welcome the women,
called the move a good sign for peace
with Israel.
“No doubt this will help the rela
tionship between the two peoples,” he
told reporters.
Seven women had left the prison
earlier Tuesday — but one was
brought back by her jailers because of
the Supreme Court petition, and three
others demanded to be returned to
prison in solidarity. Finally, after 11
p jn., all the women were freed.
Aisha Abu-Hazem, who served
two years of a 12-year sentence for
stabbing a police officer, expressed
mixed feelings about her release.
“I’m not happy that I left while
there are still prisoners in the prison
— and I mean all prisoners, includ
ing the men,” she said.
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